Parents of son who shot at people sentenced to prison in US

In the United States, the parents of a teenager who shot and killed four classmates were sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison each. A Michigan judge lamented missed opportunities that could have prevented his teenage son from getting his hands on a gun. About it reported Associated Press agency.

“These convictions are not related to poor parenting,” said Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews. “These guilty verdicts substantiate repeated acts or omissions that could have prevented the crime.”

The hearing in a packed courtroom was the culmination of a trial to determine whether people other than the 15-year-old gunman were criminally responsible for the school shooting.

Jennifer and James Crumbley didn’t know Ethan Crumbley had a gun in his backpack when his parents dropped him off at Oxford High School. Prosecutors, however, were able to convince jurors that the parents played a catastrophic role in the armed incident.

A Michigan teenager has received a life sentence for attacking an Oxford high school.

Crumbley Sr. was accused of not keeping track of the disappearance of a recently purchased pistol from the house. Both parents acted indifferent to signs of Ethan’s deteriorating mental health.

“The blood of our children is on your hands too,” Craig Schilling said during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, wearing a sweatshirt with a picture of Justin Schilling’s son on the chest.

Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of shooting victim Madisyn Baldwin, told the Crumbleys they had failed at raising their children.

Defense attorneys sought to keep the Crumbleys out of jail, noting they had already spent nearly two-and-a-half years in jail after failing to post $500,000 bail following their arrest.

They will receive credit for their prison time and will be eligible for parole after 10 years in prison. If they are denied release from prison, they could be detained for up to 15 years.

Five deputies stood next to the couple in the suburban Detroit courtroom and more lined the walls.

The couple had separate trials in court in Oakland County, 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Detroit. Jurors saw the teen’s violent actions during a school assignment and heard testimony about the crucial hours before the attack.

His parents were called to a hasty meeting at school that lasted less than 15 minutes. They failed to mention that the gun resembled the Sig Sauer 9mm pistol that James Crumbley had purchased just four days earlier.

School staff did not demand that Ethan go home, but were surprised when the Crumbleys did not voluntarily agree to do so. Instead, they left with a list of mental health providers and said they were returning to work.

Later that day, November 30, 2021, their son pulled a gun from his backpack and began shooting, killing Schilling, Baldwin, Tate Mair and Hana St. Juliana and wounding seven others.

Ethan, now 17 years old, is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.